Nut locking device



July 21, 1931. E, BRANDT 1,815,095

NUT LOCKING DEVI CE Filed July 10, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR/ (5 ram (ft A ITORNE 1 Sv NUT LOCKING DEVICE Filed July 10, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR g fira n/z" A TTORNEY Patented July 21, 1931 UNET r'ras EUGENE BRANDT, F GENEVA, SWITZERLAND NUT LOOKING DEVICE Application filed July 10, 1929, SerialNo. 377,285, and in Switzerland March 15, 1929.

This invention relates to nut locking devices adapted to lock at least two nuts. Devices of this type are known which comprise a plate arranged to be clamped between the nuts and their support and in which two tongues are out which are adapted to act upon the nuts after the manner of pawls.

Experience has shown that in order that the tongues may possess suiiicient elasticity, the plate should be made of steel, and in order to permit the tongues to be cut out with ease, this plate should be fairly thin. But under these circumstances, the plate is no longer capable of withstanding the mechanical stresses to which it is subjected, particularly when the device is employed upon the fish plates of railway tracks.

The subject of the present invention is a locking device for at least two nuts, characterized by the feature that it is formed by an elastic rod so shaped as to pass beneath the nuts and such that its raised ends each press elastically upon the periphery of one of the nuts in a direction tangential to this periphery.

As the operation of bending a rod of steel is more easy to effect than cutting out, steel rods of surhcient strength to withstand all the stresses may be chosen, for example rods of square section with the dimensions of the faces varying from 7 to 10 m/m.

In this way the above mentioned disadvantage is removed while the manufacture is The accompanying drawings illustrate by Way of example five forms of construction of the subject of the invention as applied to the fish plates of railway tracks.

Fig. 1 is a plan view, and

Fig. 2 an elevation of the first form of construction.

Fig. 3 shows the latter in perspective view.

Fig. 4: is a plan view of the second form of i construction.

5 is a plan view of the third form of construction.

Fig. 6 is a plan and Fig. 7 an elevation of the fourth form of construction.

Fig. 8 is a plan view and Fig. 9 an elevation of the fifth form of construction.

The form of construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is formed of a steel rod 1 of square cross section, the dimensions of each side being 8 mm. (This cross section may also adopt a different shape, for example circular). The central part of this rod situated between the two bolts a comprises at its centre a bridge 2. Each of the end parts of this rod, after having passed round the corresponding bolt'a, under a nut 6, passes beneath this bridge 2, and returns towards its nut, at the same time rising gradually in such a way that its end 3 is situated at the height of this nut, in a direction which is tangential to the periphery of the latter, and presses elastically against this periphery.

A triangular lodgment 4 formed in this end permits the latter to press both against theedge of thenut, (see to the right of Fig. l)and on a face of the latter (see to the left in Fig. 1) v Beforev being introduced beneath the two 7 nuts I), the device is not flat, but slightly curved in the longitudinal direction, so that the loops which'are intended to surround the bolts are higher than the central part of the device (see F ig. 3) by an amount 71, equal to 4 mm. about. lVhen the nuts are completely screwed down, they depress the loops which react elastically upon the nuts, thus permitting wear to be taken up.

Naturally this device may also be flat before being introduced beneath the nuts. In this case the bridge 2 may bedispensed with, the chief function of this bridge being toprevent the end 3 from rising when the corresponding loop is flattened by its nut.

lVhen one of the branches is situated below one of the nuts, as is the case in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 3 before the nuts are tightened, it frequently happens that it is damaged by the wrench with which the nut is tightened. The embodiments according to Figs. 4 and 5' in which the two branches are above the nut, remove this disadvantage.

In the form of construction shown in Fig. 4, the rod 1 is gripped by two bolts which it surrounds. Its end 9, after having passed beneath the right hand nut, presses against the periphery of the left hand nut and the end 8 clamped by the left hand nut presses against the right hand nut while passing above the branch 9.

In the form shown in Fig. 5, the rod 1 surrounds the two bolts. From here the branch which has passed beneath the right hand nut will press upon the periphery of the left hand nut and the end 10 which passes from the left hand nut passes round the right hand nut and then presses upon its periphery at its upper part.

In the form of construction shown in Figs. (3 and 7, each half of the rod 1 passes beneath a nut. From here the branches 11 and 12 form two loops 13 and rise gradually in order to press elastically upon the central part of their nut.

This device is not flat before being gripped by the nuts but the loops 14 are slightly curved in a longitudinal direction, the top of the curvature being raised out of the verti cal plane of the rod by an amount it equal to 3 mm. about (see Fig. 7). When the nuts are completely screwed down, they depress the two curved loops 14: which react elastically upon the nuts, thus permitting wear to be taken up. lVhen the two nuts are tightened the loops 14: or" the device flatten out and the two ends 11 and 12 are not moved. As these two ends are upwardly curved it is not necessary to provide a bridge as in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 3.

In the embodiment according to Figs. 8 and 9the rod 1 having passed below the nuts forms two loops 15 and 16, one loop being disposed above the other one. The end 17 of the rod, after passing below the loop 15, is upwardly curvedso as to come in touch with the side of the nut. This device has the advantage that it can be used for such bolt connections where the distance between the axis of two adjacent bolts a is not always the same as will be the case with the railroad fish plate connections in the various countries. The device can be shortened or lengthened while the two loops 15 and 16 can slide above each other.

I claim 1. A device for locking nuts on their bolts, comprising a single resilient rod having a central portion extending between two bolts and forming two bolt embracing loops beneath the nuts, the portion of the rod extending between the two bolts forming a bridge, each end portion of the rod extending from the loop beneath the nut to the free end of the rod passing beneath the bridge and then returning towards the said nut and being raised to resiliently engage the sides and corners of the nut.

.2. A device for locking nuts on their bolts, comprising a single resilient rod having a central portion extending between two bolts EUGENE BRANDT. 

